I used to live in Chamonix so it was great to have a holiday in one of the great landmark hotels of this fabulous old town. Richemond has a delightful old French appeal with high ceilings and slightly faded grandeur throughout. The rooms are large, comfortable and with tall windows offering glimpses of the mountains. The food was superb and delivered in a silver service style. Chamonix is not a ski-in, ski-out resort and a car is a real bonus to trek the long valley between seperate ski areas. The bus service is reliable but uncomfortable as you invariably have to fight to get on and stand for the duration. The ski areas are good but not as large as you'd expect - the place only really comes into its own when there is lots of snow. The off piste is unparalleled anywhere but it is also a very dangerous arena - so hire a guide! The town is fantastic with good restaurants, good bars, good clubs and a real cross-section of nationalities. Chamonix's pistes are by-and-large much steeper than elsewhere, perched as they are so high on stupendously steep mountains. However, the views are some of the best in the alps and the runs are exhilarating. Grands Montets in Argentiere is the most popular, but the linked Brevent/La Flegere area offers some of the most varied terrain. Le Tour at the head of the valley offers smooth cruising down wide blues, while Les Houches at the opposite end of the valley is its own mini-resort and good for families. On the whole - Chamonix is good for adventurers, but definitely not for beginners.

Apres Ski: 4/5

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Iain Greenhalgh

12/04/2011

Thoroughly impressed by the Richemond. Excellent staff, very friendly and always helpful. A good breakfast selection gives you all you need to get going, and the egg boiler is a nice touch! There's a lift to the upper floors for the less energetic, that doesn't descend to the boot room, however it's the right side of the hotel for easy access and a short stroll to the ski bus stop. Conveniently located, it's within easy reach of some good restaurants and bars, and a short stroll to Chamonix-Sud, or the train station for day trips.

Apres Ski: 4/5

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Gregory Fortune

Gem in Paradise 12/04/2011

Thoroughly impressed by the Richemond. Excellent staff, very friendly and always helpful. A good breakfast selection gives you all you need to get going, and the egg boiler is a nice touch! There's a lift to the upper floors for the less energetic, that doesn't descend to the boot room, however it's the right side of the hotel for easy access and a short stroll to the ski bus stop. Conveniently located, it's within easy reach of some good restaurants and bars, and a short stroll to Chamonix-Sud, or the train station for day trips.

Apres Ski: 4/5

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Gregory Fortune

Chamonix 2011 Review 09/04/2011

I had an excellent time in Chamonix this winter, snowboarding with a group of 7 others. Here's the breakdown of the different aspects of our trip:

The Resort:

- Chamonix is well known as an extreme / off piste paradise. Unfortunately, when we stayed, there hadn't been any snow for some weeks, which meant all those off-piste opportunities weren't there for us. However, hats off to the resort management and piste bashers, because despite the lack of recent snowfall, all the slopes were in remarkable condition. Probably the best managed resort in that regard I have ever been to. This is one of the things that sets Chamonix apart as a world class resort.

- The transport system is pretty well organised, with buses going to and fro all day, but they could do with adding a few more vehicles at peak times.

- There is a link up to Italy on the bus, covered by the full-fat skipass, which was invaluable for us, since conditions the other side of Mont Blanc were a bit better.

- Apres Ski was weirdly absent - maybe we were there at the wrong time of year (Last week in Jan / First week in Feb) or perhaps the hotspots are all a bit hidden away. In any case, was a bit lacking.

- The Hotel:

- Perfectly reasonable accomodation, lovely staff, central location, great location for bus stops, nice serve yourself breakfast with no-one too fussed if you help yourself to a picnic lunch as long as you didn't take the mickey

- Only down side was that I was pretty sure it was advertised with free wifi, when in fact you had to pay for this. Never mind, the pub over the road has free Wi fi (which if you sit in the right corner of the dining room youcould pick up)

- The Tour Operator:

- The group I travel with always book fairly haphazardly, and end up with the best value for money deal going, considering that we are all experienced riders so like the bigger, more challenging resorts. Consequently, we don't choose the tour operator, they just pop up via Iglu offering the best deal at the time of booking. Usually it ends up being 'Last Choice' or 'MyFirstTravelAgent' etc.

- This year, we ended up with Neillson, who I always thought were a bit too "Lah-di-dah" for the likes of us. They are rubbish, and provided worse service than a lot of the cheaper operators.

- I won't go into too many details, because like I say, tour operator is irrelevant to our group when choosing a holiday so it's not fair to moan on about the service.

All in all, another great Iglu deal in a brilliant resort. You can never guarantee the conditions, but I think it's fair to say that if you go to Chamonix you won't be disappointed, whatever the weather.

Apres Ski: 2/5

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